Night of the Pranksters
by T'Reilani
Summary: Bumblebee suggests a movie night – with horror movies. Unfortunately for him, they're a little scarier than he imagined…in fact, Ratchet and Riella are the only ones unaffected. And they've decided to ensure that none of the others ever suggest this again. Will the Autobot team survive the repercussions?
1. The Movies

**_Night of the Pranksters _**

**I've kinda been on a Repo kick lately (in case it wasn't obvious). This is just a fun little 'what-if' that I wrote up while my internet was down. Note to Bumblebee: Don't make a grouchy medic and a street-smart femme watch a movie when they don't want to. **

**I own Riella, the 'bots belong to Hasbro, and the quotes are from Repo! The Genetic Opera. If you're curious, the other movie is "Nightmare on Elm Street", and no, I've never seen it, but my brother made me watch clips on YouTube. **

As yet another screaming human was brutally decapitated on the TV screen, Bumblebee squeaked and dived behind Bulkhead. "EWWW!"

"Oh please." Riella examined the tip of one of her fingers, which had been scraped in a minor car accident that morning. "Nothing bleeds _that_ much. It's just special effects."

"I don't care! Ick!" Bumblebee poked his head out and made a face. "Can you imagine…oooh!" He hid his face again.

Ratchet rolled his optics. "Bumblebee, this kind of thing doesn't really happen. That's why they call it a horror movie."

Prowl winced at the painful screech coming from the screen. "Whose dumb idea was this anyway?"

"Bumblebee's." Riella yawned. "Of course. Relax, would you?" A second later the image practically exploded in red.

"GAAH!"

The blue femme studied Prowl's hands gripping her arm with interest. "Something the matter?"

"Uh…no." Prowl let go, blushing and turning back to the screen. "I thought…you might be scared."

"Well, I'm not." Riella settled herself more comfortably on the couch and reached for her energon cube. "Although this is so pointless that I don't know why I'm still sitting here."

Optimus looked at her in wide-opticed horror. "How can you _do _that at a time like this?"

Riella shrugged. "I'm hungry." She took a sip from the cube. "What, were you hoping I'd share?"

"No!" Optimus glared back at the screen just in time to see further splatters of blood. "Oh, Primus…!"

Ratchet arched an optic ridge at Riella. "So much for "it'll be fun, you'll love it" and so on. I don't think they're loving it."

"Really, I hadn't noticed." The femme glared at Prowl until he removed his hand from her wrist again. "I wonder why?"

Bulkhead glanced at her, dentas gritted. "Those are _humans!_ Being ripped apart!"

"It's a movie." Ratchet showed just the slightest trace of a smirk. "Sure, they're getting splattered all over the place, and there are body parts and blood on everything in there, but just remember, it's not real. At least not most of it."

Bulkhead made an odd sound and clamped a servo across his mouth. Riella shook her head, smothering a giggle. "Ratchet, that was mean."

"It's not like _I_ wanted to watch it," the medic grumbled. "He had it coming for agreeing with Bumblebee that this was a good idea."

"No argument here." Riella took another sip of her energon and glanced at Bumblebee, who was practically buried in couch cushions. "Want to switch movies?"

"Uh, sure!" Bumblebee, optics flickering nervously, grabbed the DVD and carefully switched it with the other. "This one's got songs! It's gotta be better."

Two hours later, Riella was tossing her empty energon cube into the trash compactor, humming under her breath. "Reeeepo Man, Reeepo Man…"

"STOP it!" Bumblebee practically shrieked, turning on yet another light. "DON'T sing that! Brrr!"

"But it's catchy," Riella fake-pouted. "Fine. I'll sing something else. 'Not the debt doctor, with the hungry scalpel, here's my prognosis, will they live?'"

"RIELLA!" The shout came from every 'bot – except Ratchet, who shared a brief evil smirk with the femme. Finally, it was payback time for having to watch those movies.

Tonight was going to be fun.


	2. Elm Street

**Ratchet's not happy that Optimus allowed Bumblebee to show those movies in the first place...**

**_Elm Street – Optimus_**

Optimus twitched slightly as he drove down the dark street behind Ratchet. _Why in the pit did I agree to this? I should've had Riella or Prowl take patrol. This stuff doesn't bother them. _Although toward the end, Prowl had been almost as jumpy as anyone else. As for Bulkhead and Bumblebee, they had yet to turn off a light anywhere.

"Ratchet?" he called, hoping his voice didn't shake. "How far out are we?"

The ambulance slowed down to let him catch up again. "Ten minutes. We're almost to the neighborhood that called in strange activity last night. There wasn't anything, but you mentioned this morning that we should check. Remember?"

_No, I don't. Those movies drove everything else out of my processor. _"What activity did they call in?"

"Don't know. That's your job to remember." Ratchet skidded to a halt. "We're here."

Optimus transformed and studied the area. Quiet. Maybe too quiet? And very, very dark. Unconsciously, he let his battle mask slide shut.

"You see something?" Ratchet stopped beside him. If he hadn't been so nervous, Optimus would have sworn the medic had the faintest hint of a smirk. "I thought I heard a car, but it was on the main road."

The Prime took a few more steps down the street. "What did it sound like?"

"Shh! You hear that?"

Optimus froze, trying to stop his fingers from trembling. "Hear what?"

Ratchet pointed in the direction of the oldest-looking house. "It sounded like metal scraping. I think we should look."

_Metal? Scraping? _Optimus pushed back the thought of that incredibly sinister killer with knifed fingers. "P-probably. Which way do you want?"

"I'll take left. You take right." No, Ratchet couldn't possibly be smiling now.

Optimus took two more steps before a blinding light hit the street sign in front of him.

**Welcome to Elm Street.**

That was it. "RATCHET! LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!" Before the medic could even transform, Optimus was speeding back down the road toward somewhere, anywhere, with street lights.

Ratchet shook his head, chuckling as he switched off the light beam. "Sparkling. That was too easy. I doubt you'll even consider allowing horror movies on base again."


	3. Surgery

**Ratchet: **Poor Bulkhead. I didn't have the heart to do much to the big guy.

**Riella: **Well, we were going to, but...

_**Surgery – Bulkhead**_

Bulkhead inched nervously down the brightly lit hallway. He hadn't _wanted _to leave his room, but with Ratchet's comlink off, he was forced to actually go talk to the medic.

Slag that Blitzwing for damaging his backstrut in the first place.

"Ratchet?" He knocked timidly on the medbay door, then jumped backward with a squawk when it opened suddenly.

Ratchet looked all too happy to see him. "Bulkhead. Something wrong?"

"Uhh…" For some reason, the medbay made Bulkhead _very_ nervous. Maybe it was that opera movie about the doctor that collected human…parts. He glanced over Ratchet's shoulder and wished he hadn't. The medic was apparently cleaning his surgical supplies. "I…uh…nothing…"

He started to hurry back to the safety of his room, but was stopped by Ratchet. "Your backstrut is bothering you again, isn't it? Come on in. I'll get something for it."

Bulkhead caught another glimpse of those scalpels. "N-no, thanks…I'll j-just head back to my room now…"

"Nonsense, you won't get any sleep like that. Get in here." Ratchet practically dragged him into the room. "It's my job to make sure you're not hurt."

"Okay…but then I can go, r-right?" Bulkhead shivered as he sat down on the berth across from the operation table, trying not to look at it. "I mean, this doesn't take long?"

Ratchet snorted. "Don't be ridiculous. It's not like you need surgery."

"S-surgery?" Just the word made Bulkhead's spark race as the song from the movie flashed through his head. _When I remember, I dismember! Cause the claims medic gives no anesthetic, ninety days delinquent gets you Repo treatment! I'm the masked horror on your street corner, make your mama mourn you, I'm the NIGHT SURGEON!_

A second later, the green Autobot was bolting out of the room, yelling, "I'M FINE! Go away!"

Ratchet shook his head in momentary puzzlement before realizing what was wrong. "Oops. That wasn't meant for you." He opened a comm channel. "Riella? Don't go after Bulkhead. I think he's scared out of his plating already. Bad news is, I just screwed up our plans for Bumblebee."

::That's okay, I've got it.:: Ratchet could just picture the femme's predatory smirk. ::I have a backup.::


	4. Boo

**Riella: **This was fun. Sadly, we don't own "Zydrate Anatomy".

_**Boo – Bumblebee**_

Bumblebee looked back over his shoulder and checked behind the door before ducking into the makeshift kitchen. Hunger had finally caught up with him, but the absolute last thing he had wanted to do was leave his room. Unfortunately for the young 'bot, Bulkhead had also refused to leave, and everyone else's comlinks had been inconveniently off.

Very, very carefully, he tiptoed across the floor. He was almost as far as the cooling unit when the song began playing from the main room.

_"Drug market! Submarket! Sometimes I wonder why I ever got in…Blood market! Love market! Sometimes I wonder why they need me at all!" _

"Yaaah!" The small yellow 'bot almost jumped out of his armor. Optics wide, he hurried out of the kitchen and looked into the main room, only to see a video playing on the computer monitor.

"Uh…heehee…" He tried to fake a laugh that ended up sounding more like an advanced stage of hysteria. "Zydrate Anatomy. Real funny."

Nothing.

"G-guys?"

Still no response.

Bumblebee shivered as he crossed the room and shut off the video before it could start in on something else. "Haha…um…LEAVING NOW!"

No answer.

Praying the video wouldn't start again, he made his way back to the kitchen, trying not to jump at every shadow. "Okay," he told himself. "All you have to do is walk around the counter and grab some energon. Then you're back in your room…safe…"

Hands quivering, he started around the counter and reached for the cooler door.

"**Boo.**"

"YAAAAAAAAAH!" Bumblebee jumped several feet into the air, almost ripping the door handle off, and fell against the cooling unit. "DON'T KILL ME!"

Riella leaned against the counter, giggling so hard she could barely speak. "Hahahaha…gotcha! Hahahahaha!"

"N-n-not funny!" Bumblebee gasped, servo pressed against his chest in a desperate attempt to slow down the racing of his spark. "R-really not f-funny!"

"That's what _you_ think," Riella snickered, getting her laughter under control and turning away. "We'll see if Sari agrees with me when she sees the video."

"V-video?" The yellow 'bot stared in shock as the femme left, then finally found his vocalizer again. "YOU WOULDN'T!"

"Oh yes I would," Riella called back, followed by a door slamming.

Bumblebee shuddered and grabbed his energon cube. "…Slag."


	5. Good Night, Sleep Tight

**Riella: ... **Guilty as charged. But he's so much fun to prank.

_**Good Night, Sleep Tight – Prowl**_

Prowl shifted uncomfortably on the berth, listening to the sounds from outside. Whatever it was, he was going crazy just listening to it.

_Thunk. _

"Grr..." Prowl just _knew _someone was messing with him. "Bumblebee, if you're doing that, I'm going to hurt you…"

_Thunk. _

The ninja rolled over again, trying to pretend he hadn't heard it. And trying to pretend it wasn't making him nervous.

_Thunk. _

"Arrgh!" Prowl groaned and slid off the bunk. He wasn't going to get _any _sleep this way. Flinging open the door, he stormed into the hall, ready to deck whoever happened to be making the noise.

No one was there.

"Hello?"

Nothing.

Prowl sighed and stomped back into his room. _There is no such thing as people who can kill you in your dreams. I'm being paranoid. _

_Thunk. _

Before he could panic completely, Prowl remembered whose room was right next door to his. "Riella…Primus, femme, if I didn't want to protect you so much…"

_Thunk._

"That does it!" Prowl bolted out into the hall and slammed Riella's door open. "Are you kicking the wall?"

Riella rolled over and glared at him. "What are you doing?"

"Um…" Prowl blushed. "Have you been hearing…thumping sounds from outside?"

Riella shook her head, yawning. "You mean the tree branches?"

"No." Prowl looked around and nervously moved away from the dark hallway. "Uh…are you sure?"

The femme's optics narrowed as a smirk crossed her face. "Prowl, are you _scared?_"

Prowl shook his head irritably, and in the process caught a glimpse of the closet across the hall. "Of course not! Uh…"

Riella made a sound suspiciously like a giggle. "Do you need to spend the night in here?"

"Good night!" The ninja stalked back into his room, ignoring her giggles.

_Thunk. _

Prowl caught the tarp Riella tossed in his direction with a growl. "No comments."

The only response was a giggle. Prowl sighed and curled up on the floor a few feet away from her berth.

Riella's murmur broke the silence. "Prowl?"

"What?"

"I could kill you in your dreams. I just choose not to."

He groaned and buried his face in the tarp. "Shut up."

"Sweet dreams, Prowl."


End file.
